Blade attachment for motor grader

ABSTRACT

A wing blade attachment for a motor grader used to maintain unimproved rural roads. The wing blade attachment mounts to a trailing end of a main motor grader blade and swings up and down into ground scraping contact in order to create water drainage passages through the gravel windrows along the road edges or to smooth roadways at intersections, bridges and driveways. The windrows are placed by road maintenance crews to stockpile materials for roadway use. A linear actuator such as a hydraulic ram allows the grader operator to remotely and selectively swing the wing blade up and down and cut passages.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to motor graders and more specifically, to special purpose blade arrangements therefore.

2. Background of the Invention

Rural county roads are often unimproved, that is, they are not hard surfaced but are of gravel or sand. County road crews use motor graders to smooth out corrugations and potholes that develop in the road and to periodically redistribute the sand or gravel that comprises the road surface. Vehicle traffic on the road wears lane tracks in the road and bunches sand or gravel in the middle or sides out of the lane tracks. Road maintenance crews attend to re-spreading of the road material and fixing potholes. Many road crews stockpile sand or gravel along the road in so-called “windrows”, banks or shallow berms of sand or gravel lain longitudinally along the road margins. The windrows are spread over the road surface later by the crews during maintenance.

The sand or gravel windrows tend to prevent water run-off during heavy rain, and to pool water on the roadway. Consequently, road crews cut drainage channels at intervals along the length of the windrow to allow water to run off the roadway and into roadside drainage ditches. Previously, channel cutting required multiple passes of a motor grader along the roadway; the first to form the windrow from the broad band of sand or gravel laid down by a tilt bed dump truck, the second to come back along the same path and cut the drainage channels. Taking both sides of a road in consideration, this is at least two for a single side of the road. If windrow forming and drainage channel cutting could be combined in a single pass or operation for each side of the road, maintenance time for that road section could be halved.

BRIEF SUMMARY

An attachment blade assembly for mounting to the main blade of a motor grader swings into and out of ground engagement to form drainage channels through a windrow being formed by the motor grader blade. The assembly uses a wing blade swingably mounted to the trailing end of the motor grader blade. The wing blade is mounted on an angled arm which is hydraulically moved to swing the wing blade up and out of ground contact, by-passing the windrow formed by the main motor grader blade. When swung down and into ground contact remotely by the grader operator, the wing blade prevents the windrow from forming, thus creating a drainage channel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the attachment blade deployed in downward position.

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the attachment blade in downward position.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the attachment blade in upward, by passing, position.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the attachment blade in fully rearwardly swung, or stowed, position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 generally indicates an attachment wing blade embodying the present invention. The attachment blade 1 is mounted to a motor grader blade 2 at the trailing end 3 of the blade 2. The motor grader blade 2 is mounted below a common motor grader, such as used for road grading purposes. Mounting mechanisms on the motor grader allow the operator to angle the blade 2 and raise and lower it. The motor grader blade 2 has the trailing end 3 and a leading end 4. Motor graders are commonly used by road maintenance crews for unimproved rural or county roads that are surfaced with sand or gravel. Periodic grading is required to fill in potholes, ruts and rippled surfaces and maintain a proper crown to the road to promote water drainage. Crews haul in extra sand or gravel, spread it on the road and grade it. Crews often haul in more surfacing materials than are needed and stockpile the extra sand or gravel along the margins of the road in windrows, which are spread back over the road surface when needed so that the maintenance crew does not have to haul material in for every grading. The windrows along the road margins can block drainage and cause water to pool on the road surface. To reduce or eliminate water pooling caused by the damming effect of the windrows, drainage channels or passages must be cut laterally through the windrows at appropriate intervals. Previously, such lateral drainage channels have been cut by the motor grader operator making a second pass on the roadway after forming the windrow. In this second pass, the operator raises the motor grader blade to pass over the windrow then lowers it at a selected position to grade a passage through the windrow, then raises the blade again. Considering that each road has opposite margins, the motor grader must make two passes over the same length of roadway; one for grading and forming the windrows and a second pass for drainage channel cutting or eliminating windrows adjacent road intersections and driveways or on bridges. The present invention reduces by one half the number of passes the motor grader is required to make and allows a road maintenance crew to double its production and reduce its fuel costs.

Preferably, the trailing end 3 of the motor grader blade 2 is reinforced with an end plate 7 conforming to the curvature of the blade 2. The attachment wing blade 1 is a short, wing segment of blade that also generally conforms to the curvature of the blade 2 and has a replaceable bottom scraper edge 8. The wing blade 1 is mounted outwardly of the trailing end 3 of the motor grader blade 2 so that it forms an extension that can be lowered into roadway scraping contact or raised to by pass the road surface and the windrow created on the roadway surface by the motor grader blade 2. To move the wing blade 1, an attachment mechanism 10 is mounted against the rear surface of the blade 2 adjacent the trailing end 3 and includes an elbow shaped or bellcrank control arm 12 that is rotatably mounted at a pivot pin 13. The control arm 10 angularly bends around the blade trailing end 3 to position the wing blade 1 at approximately a 135 degree angle vee shape to the grader blade 2 when the wing blade 1 is down. The control arm 12 is caused to rotate about the pivot pin 13 by a link 15 pivotally connected at an upper end 16 and swingably connected at a mid location 17 to an actuator, preferably a linear actuator such as a hydraulic ram 20. The link 15 at its bottom end 21 is rotatably mounted to an adjustable link arm 23 which can be varied in length to set the amount of rotation of the wing blade 1.

At the remote end 25 of the control arm 12 is a shock absorber assembly 26 consisting of a pair of plates with a coil spring 27 between. Other shock absorber elements may include rubber discs, hydraulic shock absorbers and other such devices as is known in the art. Further angular adjustment of the tilt of the wing blade is done by a bolt 29.

In use, the operator of the motor grader grades the roadway with the wing blade 1 in the upward, by-passing position, FIG. 3. Material swept by the main motor grader blade 2 forms a windrow at the trailing end 3 of the blade. The grader operator cuts a drainage channel or passage through the windrow or creates a smooth surface at intersections, bridges and driveways by actuating controls, such as hydraulic controls, to lower the wing blade 1 into ground engagement, FIGS. 1 and 2. When down, the wing blade 1 in a Vee shape with the motor grader blade 2 prevents the material from sweeping off the trailing end 3 and thereby prevents the windrow from forming. The wing blade 1 may be completely folded or retracted for transport or to allow the grader operator to use the grader blade 1 without any interference from the wing blade 1, FIG. 4.

Other embodiments of the invention may become apparent from the foregoing description of a preferred embodiment. The invention is not to be limited to a specific form or configuration of elements except insofar as set forth in the following claims. 

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 10. An attachment blade assembly for use with a motor grader to create drainage passages through a roadway windrow, the attachment blade assembly comprising a short wing blade for attachment to a substantially longer motor grader blade and a remotely actuated linear actuator and a pivotally mounted angled arm, the actuator acting upon said angled arm through a linkage mechanism to selectively position said wing blade in a downward scraping position in a forwardly angled vee relationship with said motor grader blade and raise said wing blade to a bypass position swung upwardly to a forwardly veed position, and swing said wing blade to a fully stowed position parallely concealed and protected behind said motor grader blade, thereby permitting a motor grader operator to perform multiple functions without removal of said attachment blade. 